Description

In using an innately delicate everyday material, Michael Velliquette’s paper sculptures convey strength, intent, and durability in which temporality and perpetuity coexist. The visual experience of these works is of a sense of confident robustness, even grandiosity, yet it is underscored by the knowledge that they are lightweight and prone to damage, highlighting a unique duality. They are at once abstract layers and shapes made from colored paper and also structures that from one moment to the next suggest fortress-like constructions, tiered mandalas, or complex mechanical gears. 

Velliquette challenges the unassuming nature of paper by creating pieces that appear dimensional, elaborate, and timeless, yet we know the material they are made from is susceptible to exposure to moisture, sunlight, fire, or the smallest pressure or fold, and requires conscious observation and care. Cut exclusively and assembled by hand, Velliquette’s works can take hundreds of hours to complete.

Velliquette’s process of making these works could be considered a meditative exercise, in a sense, as the sculpture comes together bit by bit, utilizing a range of simple tools. Through a meticulous and intuitive process of measuring, cutting, and assembling pieces of colored paper into complex structures and geometric systems, a simple material is imbued with the power to transfix. Art becomes a place where the present and permanence intersect. Some motifs seem almost elemental in their use across time, cultures, and geography.